Car-coupling



t 6 e h s .W 6 e h S 3 N E E K 0 M. L m M d 0 M 0 W GAR COUPLING.

PatentedDeo. 18, 1888.v

M, M Wm WITNESSES, J; a 04 W IJV'VEJVTOR flttorneyf 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. T.L. MoKEEN.

GAR COUPLING.

(No Model.)

Patented Dec. 18 1888.

WITNESSES, Q7? 66 (No Model.)

T. L. McKEEN.

GAR COUPLING.

3v Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

flttorneM NlTE STATES ATENT THOMAS- L. MCKEEN, OF EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,871, dated. Decenber 18, 1888. Application filed January 13, 1888i Serial No. 260,656.(No model.)

new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplings; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and inwhich Figure 1 is a perspective viewof one drawhead of my improvedcar-coupling. Fig. 2 is a top view of two draw-heads engaging eachother. Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the same. Fig. 4 is a horizontalsectional view of one of the draw-heads. Fig. 5 is a similar viewshowing the pivoted hook tilted out ready for coupling. liig. 6 is aperspective view of the draw-head seen from the rear, and showing 5parts of the draw-head broken away, the pivoted hook being tilted outready for coupling. Fig. 7 is a similar view showing the hook tilted inand in operative position for holding the opposite hook, and Fig. 9 isa-view of the sliding key or pin.

The same numerals of reference int'licate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

My invention has relation to that class of car-couplings in which apivoted hook swinging in a horizontal plane partly closes a recessformed in the end of the draw-head capable of receiving a similar-hookfrom the opposite draw-head, and .in which this hook may be locked inplace when tilted il'nvard; and it consists in the improved constructionand combination of parts of such a car-coupling, in which the slidin keyengaging the shoulder upon the hook and locking it by dropping down intoits hole is cut away at its lower end for the passage of the curvedinner end of the hook, and in which the hook is braced and guided bysuitable shoulders, and the slide-key securely seated in the draw-headso as not to be lost, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the draw-head,which may be at tached and secured to the car in any suitable manner andprovided with any suitable kind of springs for cushioning its play. Theforward end of the draw-head is formed with a laterally projecting andforwardly curved horn or guide-arm, 2, at one side, and with alaterally-extending case or chamber, 3, at the opposite side, withinwhich chamber the pivoted hook I is secured. The chamber is formed withan arc-shaped recess, 5, having a rounded post, (5, at the center of thearc, and the forward face of the draw-head is formed with a curved faceportion, 7, above and below the forward opening of the arc-shapedrecess,-

concentric with the recess and with the post. At the rear side of thearc-shaped recess a vertical perforation, 9, passes through thedraw-head, intersecting the periphery of the recess with one-half of itsdiameter, and the upper wall of the chamber in the draw-head ispreferably formed with a nearly-rectangular box, 9, at the upper end ofthis perforation, extending toward the outer side of the draw-head andclosed by a sliding cover, 10, although this chamber may be dispensedwith by another form of sliding key.

The hook tis S-shaped, and has its rear or inner end shaped in an arc to[it and turn perfectly within the arc-shaped recess, havinga centralcylindrical notch, ll, with which it may turn upon the central post ofthe recess. The forward portion of the hook is formed withrearwartlly-facing shoulders 12 concentric with the are of the rear end,and littin g and sliding against the arc-shaped faces of the draw-head,and at its outermost end the hook is preferably formed with a recess ornotch, 12;, for the reception of a common link, and'with a verticalperforation, 14, for the pin when the coupling is used with a commonpin-and-lh1k couplin The rear por tion of the periphery of the inner endof the hook is formed with an arc-shaped rabbet, 15, forming a shoulder,l 3, and a semi-cylindrical notch, 17, is formed in the periphery at theforward-end of the rabbet, registering with the perforation in thechamber of the drawhead.

The sliding key or pin 18 is formed with a halved-in lower end, 19,which will form a shoulder, 20, which may rest upon the shoulder of therabbet in the hook, the key or pin sliding vertically in the vertiealperforation of the draw-head, and it will be seen that when the key israised so as to bring the shoulder in a line with the rabbet ot' thehook the latter may be tilted outward, the rabbet sliding under theshoulder of the key, and when in coupling the hook is tilted inward thenotch in the are-shaped end of the hook and the vertical perforationwill be brought IO to register, allowing the key to drop down in theeylindrieal pert'oration thus formed, and eausing the key to loek thehook in its position. When the d raw-head is shaped with the box atthe upper portion of the vertieal perfora tion,the key is formed withahead, 21, having a small lip, 2;, 't'or raising it easily, the saidhead titting in thebox, and being raised above the shoulder of the key adist anee eorresponding to the thiekness ot the shoulder upon therabbeted periphery of the rear end oi the hook, so that the eylindriealportion of the key will lit in the pertbration formed and the head willrest upon the shoulder. The box and head will in this ease serve to holdthe key from turning, so that the halved-in side will at, all times bepresented to the areshaped periphery oi the hook, and the lower end ofthe vertieal perforation is preferably also shaped semi-eylindrieal, soas to guide the key and keep it from turning, as shown at 223, and thisshape otthelower end of the perforation beeomes neeessary when the keyis not provided with the head sliding within the box, but is shaped asshown in one of the 3 5 draw-heads of Fig. 2, where the key is shownprovided with a simple bent upper end and with a split key in its lowerend for prevent-- ing it from jumping out oi? its pert'oration.

The lip upon the headed key may, when the .ro key is raised, engage anoteh, A, in the outer side of the box, owing to the faet that the pinmust have sull'ieient play within the box to permit of its free vertiealmovement, and this play is just sut'tieient to permit of the lip enga 1gslightly with the slmulder, and may thus support the key while the hookis turned; but the lip will only support the key slittieiently to holdit while the hook is tilted, and

will be disengaged from its notch whenever the draw-head is subjected tothe slightest shock, so that the lip will not prevent the free workingof the key while assisting in setting the hook for coupling.

\Vhen the heads are to be eoupled, one or both hooks are tilted out 1i'y raising the sliding keys, suitable mechanism for raising the keysbeing eapable ot? being connected to them, and when the draw-heat'ls arebrought together the hooks will be tilted in, allowing the keys to dropdown and to leek the hooks in their holding position.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byletters .Iatent of the United States A key for ear-eoupling ot theeharaeter herein speeitied, consisting ot the head 2], formed withthelip 2;, the intermediate body portion formed with the shoulder 90,and the lower end halved-in or semi-eyl'iudrieal in form, substantiallyas and t'orthe purpose set forth.

2. The eombinat-ion of the drmv-head having the {llC-HllttDUtl reeessand the vertical perfora-lion intersectingtheperiphery of the saidrecess, and formed with the sen1i-eylindrieal lowerend, and with thelaterally-extendingbox at the upper end, having the sliding eoverand thenoteh in theouterside, the S-shaped hook having the are-shaped rabbet inits inner areshaped end, and having the semi-eylindrieal notch in theforward end of the rabbet in the periphery of the rear end, and the keyhaving the lower se'mi-eylindriea] or halved-in end sliding i n thesemi-eylindriealperforation, and having the shoulder fitting upon therabbet, and i)rovided with the head fitting in the box, and havingthelip (mgaging thenoteh in theouter side of the box, as shown anddeseribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereuntoa't'tixed my signature in presenee oi two witnesses.

'lHUMAS L. MUKEEN.

\Vitnesses:

W. llixeksrr, .l1-., JouN S. NoBLE.

